While the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was walking, a man who had an ass [i.e. donkey] came to him and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, ride’, and the man moved to the back of the animal. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, ‘No, you have more right to ride in front on your animal than me unless you grant that right to me’. He said, ‘I grant it to you’. So he mounted.

[Saheeh Bukhari no. 2572]

Shaikh Abdul-Muhsin al-‘Abbad hafidhuhallah was asked:

Question:

Can an analogy be made between a riding animal and the car nowadays in that its owner has more right to sit in the front?

Answer:

“Yes, similar to it is the front seat of a car except if the owner of the car wants to ride in the back and he chooses the back. Then there is no harm if another person sits in front of him. Like our Shaikh Abdul-‘Aziz [Bin Baz] rahimahullah. He would not sit except in the back of the car and he would not sit in the front of the car. That was in order to be near the scribe who would read to him because in his car, books would be read and completed. In any place he went, a book would be read to him or mutual dealings would be read to him. So he chose to sit in the back so that the scribe would be near him to write and read”.

[Sharh Sunan Abu Dawood no.304]

Shaikh Abdul-Aziz ar-Raajihi hafidhuhallah said:

“This speech [the above-mentioned Hadith] is applicable in our times to the owner of a car. He has more right to driving it except if he gives permission to other than him regarding it”

The driver manages the car and has the right to decide who sits in the front seat or back seat etc.

Shaikh Abdul-Muhsin al-‘Abbad hafidhuhallah said:

“He [i.e. the man in the hadeeth] said, ‘I grant it to you’. So he [the Prophet Sallallaahu Alayhi Wa Sallam] mounted. This indicates the owner of the ride takes precedence over others. This is like him having the right in his house regarding the sitting [i.e. who sits where]. So he says to this one, ‘you sit here’ and to this one, ‘you sit here’. So he has more right to manage his house. Like that, he has more right [regarding] his riding animal/vehicle”.

[Sharh Sunan Abu Dawood no.304]

So now we learn that the owner of the car takes precedence in driving his car, sitting in the front, and managing the car [i.e. who sits where]. What a great benefit! We see that our Prophet (ﷺ) taught us everything, even how to ride in our cars!